With the availability of high speed printing devices, the capacity to use such printing devices for volume printing of documents has become increasingly desirable. However, the long term use of non-impact printers such as laser, thermal transfer, or ink jet imaging has been less than satisfactory for a number of reasons. In particular, the accumulation of contaminants in the form of unbound ink, adhesives, and paper dust, adhering to the internal machinery of the printing devices, causes premature and often expensive servicing of the automated equipment after limited handling cycles.
Though problems arising from contamination can be evident when passing any paper product though a printer (e.g., paper dust), the problem may be exacerbated when printing adhesive-bearing documents such as labels, stickers, and decals. This class of documents has a variety of uses including imparting information about a product to a user thereof, and in many instances, an adhesive is used to secure labels or decals to an underlying surface. In many applications, information is printed directly onto a label or decal surface prior to use, typically imparted using computer-controlled, non-impact printers. Impact printers such as dot matrix printers are also used.
Current label designs can contaminate a printer with adhesive and prevent proper functioning of the printer over time. For example, a first pass through a laser printer's fuser section can lead to hot-melt and emulsion acrylic adhesives becoming more fluid. This problem is only compounded in duplex printing, where such documents may undergo multiple passes though a printer, leading to greater fluidity of adhesive and likelihood of escape from the context of the document and onto internal printer parts.
Small amounts of adhesive extruded from between the label portions begins to accumulate within the printer over time. A moderately sized pharmacy printer, for example, may print 300 to 500 pharmacy labels and forms per day, resulting in a frequent need to clean, repair, or replace the printer. If the contamination is extensive enough, it can severely damage the printer. Often times, the rollers, fusers, toners, and wipers, for instance, need to be cleaned and/or replaced. The cost of maintenance and repairs and utility lost in repair time contribute significantly to production costs.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a document with debris-removing characteristics which can minimize the relative level of contamination generated upon each pass through the printer. It is also desirable to provide a document with debris-removing characteristics that can reduce debris that may have already collected within the printer.